The Men Who Stare at Goats Review

[Westside Steve]

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Overture

R 90 min

 

 

So there have been a few flicks recently trumpeting the “true story” hook and as your faithful narrator, I’ll admit to taking them all with a grain or two of salt.

F’rinstance in THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES, there are actually three men who billed themselves as the Stooges. The factuality as to whether they met the Greek strongman is, well, still in question.

Here, reporter Jon Ronson claims to have been privy to the antics of a special division of the US armed forces built around the psychic powers of its recruits.

I’ll don’t doubt that was the case. I’ll bet the army thinks up a lot of off the wall ways to wage war and manage national security, and to be honest there has to be some grain of truth in the sea of extra sensory mumbo jumbo. A grain that is.

Ronson (Whose character name is Bob Wilton played by Ewan McGregor) winds up in Iraq with Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) an ex member of that new age brigade,

The two take a semi comic romp through some dangerous Middle Eastern territory as Cassady tries to remember his psychic mission. The background of these special forces origin unfolds in flashback as a series of semi humorous vignettes. One involves soldiers trying to kill goats using only their minds and a penetrating stare, he the title.

One reason I felt there might be some truth to this is that it’d probably be more entertaining if it were all fiction. It’s not bad but there’s nothing really compelling about it. There’s a great cast that includes Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey and some very talented goats, but the hippie humor never rises above mediocre.

Mexican brown rather than orange sunshine if you get my drift, man.

C

WSS

 

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